Pacemakers, PKU, Poodles The Common Thread in Market Immersion For New Product / Service Development

Last week I had the opportunity to visit with friends of mine in the greater Seattle area. As we chatted over the weekend, I began to think about their new project to raise awareness “of children who learn differently.” You see, both founders are moms with children who learn differently. Their organization is…”Life’s a Poodle.” More on this later!

On the plane on my way home I thought of Life’s a Poodle and other major influencers on both my life and the thirst to understand how to tame conflict points (problems) for products and services through the use of sensible market research consisting of market immersion.

In 1950, Wilson Greatbatch graduated from Cornell University with a B.E.E. or Bachelors of Electrical Engineering. He went on to live in a small community outside Buffalo, NY by the name of Clarence, NY where I spent most of my childhood. In order to augment his family’s living expenses, his children sold eggs door-to-door in the local community gathered daily from hens in their backyard. I had the privilege of attending Clarence High School with his daughter so the story following plays a significant role in my market research thought process.

According to his biographical website …”One afternoon in the late 1950s, he was inspired by a mistake to invent one of the most significant medical devices of all time: the implantable cardiac pacemaker.

Greatbatch was building an oscillator to record heart sounds. When he accidentally installed a resistor with the wrong resistance into the unit, it began to give off a steady electrical pulse. Greatbatch realized that the small device could be used to regulate the human heart. After two years of refinements, he had hand-crafted the world’s first successful implantable pacemaker (patent #3,057,356). Until that time, the apparatus used to regulate heartbeat was the size of a television set, and painful to use. “

How was this life saving discovery made again…by making a mistake, maybe by learning differently, but for sure by understanding a conflict (problem) in medicine through his being in the market, and capitalizing for the better good for all mankind through his mistake.

My next inspiration came from a doctor from Minneapolis (later Western NY) by the name of Robert Guthrie. Actually, I worked with Dr. Guthrie’s son at a day camp for “retarded children” in Clarence when I was 14 or 15 years of age. His son was born with a problem known now as PKU or phenylketon-uria which is a disease which in a simple form causes ingested proteins to create poison like fluids in a baby sometimes resulting in “mental retardation.” Standard formula or milk products poison the baby’s system. Discovered as a problem in the early 1930s, the only way to control the problem was through diet.

Dr, Guthrie was immersed in his son’s problems, but did not stop there. He noted the conflict (problem) and developed the Guthrie Test for early detection of PKU prior to the first feeding in 1958, which became a standard blood test in all United States hospitals in 1966. With early detection from a small drop of blood, Dr. Guthrie’s work has prevented hundreds of thousands of small lives being challenged.

Dr, Guthrie would probably not have developed the test had it not been for his dealing with his own family’s challenges. He was immersed.

Back to Life’s a Poodle. The two week old company was developed by two moms of children who learn differently. They understand the heartbreak for the families as well as the child navigating the public school systems in a race to maximize children’s sense of security, well-being and contribution to society. They were immersed in their family’s own needs, but stepped out to assist other families with children “who learn differently,” by raising awareness of the issue. At the same time they want all to have fun by raising this awareness as is indicated by “laughing out loud” through “The Poodle Dance” and the “Poodletini,” as illustrated on their website, www.lifesapoodle.com.

While the reader may come from many businesses and industries, (my background is building materials not medical or educational) the same needs apply to any new product or service development task. It has to come from immersion in the market, (one has to thoroughly understand and identify the conflict) not development in a factory or think-tank going forward. Solving the known conflict (problem), maybe through making mistakes or via “learning a different way” is the best way to new product or service development.

Market back NOT factory / think-tank forward. This is how the truly successful developments are created.